Aren't we all? ...indirectly, I mean. I'm sure many would agree with me that building a child's fluency, accuracy and vocabulary in their primary and middle school years prepares them for the rigors of English in their high school years.

Anyone have a weblink for a recent year's gaokao? There's bound to be ambiguously worded questions and errors as there are in the CET and TEM. If there were a Chenglish Proficiency Exam for FTs, we'd stand a better chance in the gaokao test prep market.

dakelei wrote:

It is my understanding that a Spoken English component has been added

For which province/city? According to Wikipedia, 16 provinces and municipalities use customized exams.

Anyone have a weblink for a recent year's gaokao? There's bound to be ambiguously worded questions and errors as there are in the CET and TEM. If there were a Chenglish Proficiency Exam for FTs, we'd stand a better chance in the gaokao test prep market.

My girlfriend (who lived in Canada from the age of 7) took the CET-4 and CET-6 just for fun several years ago, and managed to somehow fail the CET-4 while passing the CET-6. She took both of them on the same day and personally attributes the results to the fact that the CET-4 was in the morning while the CET-6 was in the afternoon...

It is my understanding that a Spoken English component has been added to the gaokao. At my last high school teaching job here we were given examples of how to prepare students for it. This would have been the 09-10 academic year. It was still in the planning and experimental stage at that point but I believe that now every student sitting for the gaokao must take the speaking part. It's done in front of a computer. If there is a market for FT's that is where it will be. The Chinese teachers can drill the grammar and vocab but most still can't teach speaking.

Emm Quite a few grade three students are asking me to help me with their spoken English lately telling me their reading and writing is good.

In years past I would rarely get asked by grade three students for help.

Forgive me for resurrecting this thread, but I've just taken on a pair of students sitting the gaokao this summer. I'll have to ask them but can anyone provide a weblink to a recent gaokao, or know if previous years tests are available at student bookstores? I don't want to do this unless I can demonstrably improve their performance on the specific knowledge and skills they'll need to score higher--I won't waste their time or trust working on skills not tested.

By 'spoken' do you mean understanding English spoken at dictation speed, which the students write down?
For the students to utter anything would require voice recognition well in advance of the programmes available now.
Anything conversational, would seem out of the question for that number of students.
Let's not be overly critical though. Chinese-scale situations, require Chinese-scale solutions.